Community Forum/User Guide
This is based on several old forum resources. The purpose of this article is to be as user- and newbie-friendly as possible. Forum Terms Terms used frequently on the forum by various older members and staff. wolfquest.org • Where do I find definitions for forum words? (WQ Dictionary) A Announcement Topic A very important topic that is sent to the very top of a certain board, it is more important than a sticky topic. Artwork Drawn, rendered, painted or other such arts or crafts. There is a section called User Artwork (and Wild Canid User Artwork) where you may post your work - Remember that the must follow both forum guidelines and user artwork rules so that users are free to enjoy your work. Avatar (or avvie) Avatar- The picture or icon on your profile. It is also shone wherever you post, just below your username. B Backseat Moderator (or backseat mod) A user that replies to posts as if they were a moderator, for example reminding other people of the rules. Ban A temporary or permanent loss of use of your account on this site. Banhopping The use of and creating of another account to get around a temporary or permanent ban. This is highly discouraged. BBCode A type of HTML code that, when put into a post, makes things appear colored, bold, italicized, etc. Board (or forum.) A certain place on the forums. For example, Wildlife, General Other Topic Discussions, and Introduce Yourself are all boards. Board Index The home page of a forum, all boards and forums can be seen from here. Bumped A topic which has been posted on in order for it to appear at the top a the page under a sticky topic(s) and for it to be noticed by community users. Bots Not to be confused with spambots. These are Search engines to collect information to add to their engines, there are various bots around the forums. C Case-sensitive This is a program often used on sites for certain things such as passwords. This only recognizes upper case letters as upper case and lower case letters as lower case. (eg; PaSswOrD would be PaSswOrD as opposed to Password or password) Category Part of the forums that talks about one topic or topics similar about it. Boards can be made in it by administrators. For example, 'The Wild and You' and 'Talk About The Game' are categories. Character Map A Windows utility that displays all the characters in various fonts. To find your character mao on Windows, Just go to - Start Menu - Accessories - System Tools - Character Map. You can also search on the internet and find lists of the symbols and copy and paste them. Characters Another word for letters, numbers, etc... Chat Speak The blend of informal language, conventional abbreviations and emoticons which is normally used in many types of chatrooms. Examples of chat speak are "Kewl", "nvm", "brb" Etc. - This type of speaking is not encouraged on the community forums since it's normally hard to understand. Color stick A colored line or shape in a person's signature. Contest An opportunity for users to compete against each other and possibly win a prize. Controversial State of a public dispute or debate, usually including a use of opinion and language, this can usually lead to fights - Topics created which can cause this type of discussion/behaviour isn't permitted on the forums. Copyright A form of protection for original ideas by a specific person. This is to show that the work is made by the person, and is not allowed to be taken from or used/edited in any manner without permission. Critique The discerning or suggestion to a value of persons or things. For example, wolf artists may request critique on their art in the User Artwork subforum. D Deleted Topic A topic that is purely gone. You can never see it again as there is no way of getting it back. Deleted Username When a username appears white, it means it is deleted. The user account is no longer active, meaning that the username cannot be used to log in on WolfQuest anymore. You cannot PM, view the profile of browse through the posts of a deleted username. Disable An action to make a certain action or option ineffective, unfit, or incapable of being used. On the WolfQuest Community forums you are able to disable BBcodes, smilies, signatures being added to your posts and a reply from when someone posts on a topic. To disable these actions/options, just go to the bottom of your post where it says options when tick the boxes for which option you want disabled but for the signature and topic notify you have to leave those boxes unticked to disable them. E Edit A little option you can click so your can edit your posts. Be sure to do this instead of double posting. Users cannot edit their posts after a topic is locked, however administrators and administrators can. EFA Stands for Excuse for Absence. E-mail A method of exchanging digital messages. On the WolfQuest Forums you are able to email users information or just for talk, the email button can be found under the user's avatar and next or near the PM button. F FAQ Stands for Frequently Asked Questions, it is a Topic or Section in the board that answers questions commonly asked about the forums. Foe list The list of people you have added as ‘Foes’. Posts and PMs of foes will be hidden unless you click a view button. Forum The whole community of this site, like the boards, categories, threads, etc... Sometimes also used as a synonym for board. Forum Guidelines See wolfquest.org • Forum Guidelines The community's rules which is expected for you to follow in order to keep the community a friendly and happy place. Font Size The size of somebody’s font in their post, Private message, email Etc. On the WolfQuest Forums you are able to change your font size by pressing the bar which says "Normal" and then a list of options should appear, click on one of them or you may personalize your own font size by just simply pressing one of the options and changing the number which appears after "size=#" - Large font size can be considered SPAM. Free use gallery A site that has a lot of uncopyrighted pictures. On the WolfQuest community forums, users may find that some artists have provided free use images in Avatars & Graphics. In the User Control Panel, under Edit avatar, users can also find free-use avatars contributed by the community. Friend list A list of users you have added as your friends. When a friend is online it will be shown in your User Control Panel, and private messages from a friend are indicated with a different colour. G Global Announcement Topics that are quite important. They can also be found at the top of every board, including on your "User Control Panel." Guideline A statement that you are expected to follow. H Hidden Members Members of the community that don't want their status to be shown. The only thing that makes them different is that their online status is never shown. Home Page The front page of a website, also referred to as the Index Page. HTML Stands for Hyper Text Mark Up Language, this is the use of several BBcode materials for the making of webpages. I Icon Used as a reference to Avatar, it is often the icon located above the posting information on a user's side bar or viewed in the left section of their profile page. Image This is a picture often used on the internet. A user can post images from external websites on the forums through the IMG tag, however, they must first join the Image Tags usergroup to enable this, albeit only within a selection of allowed forums. Inappropriate Behavior verbal, visual, actions or writing which is not suitable for a particular occasion, in the case of WolfQuest for example: Mates. - This kind of behavior is not tolerated on the forums or game. Increment Increase or raise something, usually associated with forum post count and in-game experience ranks. Instant message A message that is considered sent and can be responded to instantly. Here on the WolfQuest community forum, users can send messages to those on Yahoo, AIM, MSN, Icq, and several other services. Interests A user's interests and hobbies shown on their profile. Introduction The way of introducing someone to a topic, it is also a part in which you introduce yourself to the entire community within a board named "Introduce Yourself". IP Addresses IP stands for Internet Protocol; It is a numerical label assigned to each computer network. IQ A measure of someone/thing's relative intelligence which is determined by a standard test of some kind. For example in General WolfQuest discussion or tips, hints and help there are many topics (mostly users looking for help) testing your knowledge about the game or forums to answer the user's question. J K L Literature Written material such as poems, novels, stories, character descriptions etc. There is a section called User Writings (and Wild Canid User Writings) which you may post your written work - Remember that the must follow both forum guidelines and user writings rules so that users are free to enjoy your work. Location An option on your profile where you can put any location you wish. Locked Topic A topic that is closed and will not accept any future posts from registered users. Can be locked or if necessary unlocked by moderators and administrators. M Merged Topic Two or more topics that have been combined together to form one topic. Moved Topic A topic that has been moved to another part on the forums, often because it didn't belong in the board it was posted in. N Newbie Another term for a newcomer to the forums, who isn't very experienced or doesn't have a lot of knowledge about the site or any sort of activity. Brand new forum accounts are Newly-Registered Users by default; only when they have some posts in forums that increment post count will they be automatically demoted from this starter group. Newsletter A report giving news or information of interest to the public or members in a group. For WolfQuest a newsletter comes out and is sent to users by email which gives information and news of the games and sometimes the community forums. NO (or NTP, or Newbie-Teacher Program) Newcomer Orientation, used mostly among the Packs section of the WQ community forums. O Occupation A user's job/their current progress in education or job. OTT Stands for Off Topic Topic, it is a topic used in relevant as a chatbox and can be usually found at the top of the Get To Know Each Other board. Here on the WolfQuest community forums, these days it is known as General Discussion. P Paint A program on windows computers that allows you to paint a picture PC An abbreviation that means Pack Central. This is an area of the forums in which you can create and join packs to roleplay in-game or off-site. phpBB The software the forum is running, and/or the company that made the creation of this forum possible. Plagiarism The copy and pasting of another ones words or writing that has been taken credit for. This is an illegal act. PM A message a user gets when someone contacts them. Officially named private message(s). Poll- Sort of like a survey. It is found at the very top of a topic, topics that have it at least. Post A statement, made by a user, is placed into a topic decided by the user. Something each user writes to talk/communicate with other users. Preview An advance showing, like a game/movie/artwork/story etc., to which is viewed before someone/public before it is completely presented. Private Message A message linked to only one member, unless several members or groups are picked to be sent the exact same message. Profile (or user profile) A page showing the personal information which the user provided, such as age, interests etc. and gives information about the user and an insight on their posting behavior. Post History The list of a user’s profile that shows all their posts that are not moved to the trash. Q Q&A Commonly used initials which stand for "Question(s) and Answer(s)". Queue Posting This is when a users posting has been disabled, a Moderator or Administrator must look over each users individual posts and/or topics and approve of them in order for them to be visible. Quote/Quoting Directing to a past post with a reply. A quote will be shown in a separate block of text. R Rank A word(s) associated with a badge image that you get under your username that have to do with your posts. 1 post is the minimum to get you a rank. Registered User A regular member of the forums. Their names are orange or white. Report The filling out of a document and/or form to tell an administrator or moderator about a rule breaking of a user or some sort of upset/issue. Often filed with the username of the reported person, screenshots of the issue and the issue itself. Mostly referring to Multiplayer Reports – for forum related reports, see Reported post. Reported post- Basically, a post that has been reported by users. If you see a post that is disobeying the rules, please report the post other than backseat moderate. Moderators will deal with it right away. Roleplay A changing of someone's behavior in order to assume a role of a character. Roleplay can be realistic or unrealistic. On the WolfQuest Community Forum, roleplaying on-site is restricted to one thread in General WolfQuest Discussion. Elsewhere it is prohibited. RP Short for Roleplay. Rule A statement - either globally applied across the whole forum or selectively applied to one or more forums - that you must follow. Known on the WolfQuest Community Forums as Forum Guidelines. S Search Bar A search bar in order to find certain information, in this includes topics or posts. Signature The very end of a user's post, if filled and enabled. It says the same thing on each post for the same user. Also known as 'siggy' or 'sig'. Smiley A small icon you can put in your posts- looks like a face. SMS A shortened "language" used on forums, blogs, chats, cell phones, just about anywhere. Includes words like "lol", "brb", and "wb". SPAM Stupid Pointless Annoying Messages. Is discouraged here. Stickied Topic An important topic that is sent to the near top of a thread, above the regular topics, but below announcements. Subforum Another board or forum within a main board/main forum which may be relevant to its parent board/forum. T Topic/Thread A discussion/informative talking space made in a thread. Users and Staff members can post in a topic. Trash The trash is used by the moderators and administrators to disable topics from being seen and posted on by regular users. Trashed topics aren’t completely gone, merely moved. Posts in a trashed topic cannot be showed by searching your posts. However, your post count will not decrease when a topic is moved to the trash. U UCP Abbreviation meaning "User Control Panel", where most important user modules, such as managing account credentials, are housed. User A member of the forums. User Control Panel A section for your account's information which is only available for you to access, there are many different sections which you are able to edit which you think will suit your profile and you are able to edit your information such as your location, signature, avatar, etc. User statistics Information on a community user's activity around the forums this includes, user's joining date, the last time the user visited the forum, total amount of posts, their most active forum and topic. Username A user's name on the forums. In 2.5, this value doubles as the player's wolf name in multiplayer. V W Warning Given out to members that have disobeyed the rules/misbehaved. A reminder to follow the rules and guidelines of this community in both the forums and multiplayer games. Y "You Cannot Post so soon after your last" (or flood limit) This is for the use of separating posts, this only last for a few moments before you can make a next post. It is also part of the filter system, trying to prevent uncontrolled posting around the community. Z Users & Usergroups Administrator (or admins) The people in charge of the forums. They can change pretty much whatever they want on the forums. Also known as admins. On these forums, their names are red. Banned User A user that has disobeyed the rules and misbehaved. Banning them means they can no longer login, post or contact other members. Beta Tester They test out early versions of the game before it is released and report bugs and glitches found within. Blocked User A user that another user has blocked so they cannot receive PM's from them. They cannot see posts by them also. Cana Used to refer to the second forum administrator and project coordinator, WQ Coordinator. COPPA User Stands for Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, this is a user group that is for members usually under the age of 13, the legal permission of a Parent or Guardian must be signed and a form filled out in order for them to post. Groups The user's current group role that they are apart of/play in the community. Guest A user of a forum who has not registered yet or is logged out. Michelle The previous forum administrator and first project coordinator, WQ Project Coordinator. Moderator (or mods) Not to be confused with .MODs. The people who moderate the forum. They are responsible for keeping the forums organised and operating smoothly. Usually, one or several mods will be in charge of one or more forums. On the WolfQuest community forums, their names are green. Modlet A frequently used phrase for new forum moderators, meaning that they are new to their job on the forums. (Not necessarily new to moderation as a whole, however.) Spambot(s) (or Spammer)wolfquest.org • Identifying & What to do - Spambots Not to be confused with Bots. An account created by way of an automated script, often used to generate SPAM, nonsensical gibberish, or used for advertising if not all three. Many spambots attempt to post new topics, though others use scripts which enable contact via private messaging in an attempt to keep themselves under the radar. These accounts do not respond to users. Links in their posts or private messages are not to be trusted under any circumstances; if you see such an account or receive a message, report it so that it can be dealt with. User An abbreviation for Registered Users, Newly Registered Users or Registered COPPA Users. UotM Commonly used initials which stand for "User of the Month". User of the Mnth A community user who has been spotted and chosen by the WolfQuest Team for their behavior around the community and also for following forum guidelines, they can also be spotted for other reasons for example their helpfulness around the community - This user will have a yellow name around the forums. The User of the Month title cannot be earned more than once by the same person. WolfQuest Team Member The group of people who work directly with the WolfQuest game, including development, content advising, project management, public relations, and a large variety of other tasks. Their names are a bluish gray color. References Category:Community Category:Forums Category:WolfQuest Category:2.5